The World According to Martha

A long time ago, I remember liking THE KENNEDY WIT--edited by Bill Adler . . . he then came out with several books of a similar nature, including THE UNCOMMON WISDOM OF JACQUELINE KENNEDY ONASSIS and THE QUOTABLE GUILIANI . . . in all of these, he collected memorable quotes and comments (by others) about the personality involved and put them into a short, but insightful book that gave me a real feel for the person. Adler does the same with his latest, THE WORLD ACCORDING TO MARTHA . . . he presents Martha Stewart in her own words and in doing so, gave me a glimpse into her world . . . it almost felt like she was talking to me directly. I also liked the accompanying photos. But best of all were Stewart's musings on a wide variety of subjects, including: * What do they need and want? These are our mantras. * I think animals really add something to a household. I can't imagine a house that's empty, quiet, without any animals. I just think animals are charming. . . . The animals are always bringing me joy and always bringing me happiness. And when they're ill, I worry a lot about them. . . . All my animals are extremely pampered. In fact, most of my friends said they would like to come back as one of my pets. * I'm bothered by things that hurt people, like smoking, like drinking in excess, like being mean. If people choose to paint their house a hideous color, that doesn't bother me. I won't tell them outright their choice is really bad. But I'll do that for smoking. Naturally, there was even some useful homemaking advice: * Get that stuff off the bookcases that doesn't belong there and give those books you'll never read to the library for a sale. Get rid of that faddish junk you never use in those kitchen drawers. And take out that rosebush you hate. It's simplify, simplify, simplify. * This may seem backward to some, but it makes perfect sense. When you fold the sheet back, the finished edge, monogram or other decorative detail faces up.